Sunday, July 27, 2014

Heath and I had the nursery for Sunday school. After church Heath started working outside and I started working on my presentation for tomorrow. I have the wonderful opportunity, once again, to help teach high school students at WNCC. I have a contact that I made while at Stateline who has really kept me in the loop. He had me teach a class last spring too. The topic of this two week, 30 hour course, is Safety. Tomorrow, I will present the very first presentation of the week. Introduction to O.S.H.A. That is a tall order to cover in just three hours. I had my work cut out for me. Jason, my contact, is currently in Korea adopting his second son! Blessings for him and his wife!! :)

At 7:00 pm, I switched gears and got to put on my creative hat. Time for my first round of senior pictures this year! I was so excited to go on location. They chose Trails West behind the zoo in Scottsbluff, right along the North Platte River with our beautiful monument in the background.

What a great time I had! Wonderful people, very photogenic. We not only got to take some senior pictures, but also some family shots. It was alot of fun! I am so thankful for the opportunity to do this!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

I have really been having trouble with finding mouse droppings in my chicken coop...in their food too! I have been totally disgusted and really did not know what to do because setting a trap would catch my chickens and putting out poison would kill them. I had the kitten in there the other day, but the girls didn't really care for that much. Heath had a great idea and bought one of those live traps.

Tonight, when I got home from work, my Daddy and Heath were sitting on the new trailer Dad brought for us! To drive in and see both my role models right there chatting, my heart melted. Anyway, they said they had a present for me. I said, "I know, that is awesome, thank you!!" Referring to the trailer...no yet another surprise. Heath had caught 11 mice in ONE day, in ONE live trap in our chicken coop! So I was not imagining things. We let our kitten have some fun with them before we got rid of them.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

I have had alot of help today. Last night, Heath helped me prioritize my day today (working at home on our home). I have really been needing that direction. It has been awesome! I have not been anxious at all and have actually accomplished everything so far in a timely manner.

As I was sitting at my computer doing office work, for a while I had Jasper sitting on my paperwork right between my arms and the computer....but now.....

Sunday, July 20, 2014

We got up leisurely and walked over to the restaurant after we fed the puppies. We got to eat outside and have a wonderful view of the stream and great company. I was out talking so photos this morning and I ran into a couple of really nice people and one of them was at breakfast with her husband. I gave her our card so that we could exchange recipes!

After breakfast we went back to the nice cool cabin and laid down to relax. About five minutes until eleven, I decided I better walk up to the shop and see what time we needed to be out. Turns out, I got disappointing news...we had to be out by eleven as there happened to be someone coming for our cabin, checking in today. I was really sad as the weekend flew by so quickly, but it was wonderful!

We gathered our things and played with the doggies some more to wear them out for the ride home. They both are such great passengers!

A little more fetch and swimming.

D*I*V*E right on in!

Action shot!

We were about to pass Stegall so Heath called his parents to see if they needed help with wheat harvest. Turns out we were able to help! We headed that direction, dropped the dogs off at the farm and headed for the field. One of the combine drivers had to leave, so we picked up where he left off. It was awesome! I sat next to Heath and read to him and we talked and talked!

Heath said that his mama is known to bring supper to the field around 6 pm. Oh boy, was I excited! 6 o'clock rolled around and there drove Barb sure as the sun. By the time we finished our row, she had all the lawn chairs sitting out on the shady side of the van and when we arrived, she squirted all of our hands with soap and rinsed them with water. I think she has done this before! Supper was amazing and so is Barb! :)

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Today has been an awesome day! I took off my watch last night and all morning had no idea what time it was. Time does not matter today, we are on vacation! We do not have a schedule or some deadline to meet. My goal this weekend is to rest and relax with my husband, my top earthly priority! He has been working so very hard for us at his job and then coming home and working on our home/farm as well. This weekend has been planned for quite a while. I was able to keep it a surprise for him until we got in the car last night.

Once we arrived, late last night, we got all settled into our cabin, let the puppies use the bathroom, and checked out for the night! We both slept really well with the sound of the river flowing by the windows of the cabin and the gentle breeze coming through the screens. When morning came, I got up and ate some breakfast and read my Bible right next to my amazing husband. It was awesome! I was then able to settle back in for a bit more sleep.

Later, we took a drive just down the road...no particular place, no particular hurry. It was wonderful to let the doggies run, swim, and play fetch. We all had fun!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Volunteer Sunflowers~some choose to see weeds, I choose to see beauty.
(As long as they are not hurting anything!)

The chokecherries are coming on quickly!

I wanted to grab a few quick shots before we left this weekend. Just finishing up packing for Heath for our surprise birthday weekend for him! The boys will be going to an awesome concert in Rapid City, South Dakota calledHills Alive (http://www.hillsalive.com/2014/). They went last year and had a blast getting to listen to over two dozen bands. It is a Christian concert they attend with their youth group. I am so proud of them as they invited their friends to go.

Lord, I pray for a safe, relaxing weekend for all. Even while we are apart, please impart our love and yours on our boys.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

About midway through last week, an email was sent out to the church. This was a mission and challenge from Pastor Wayne to memorize 2 Corinthians 5:15-20. Anybody who chose to memorize it could put their name in a hat on Sunday to win a "Date Night" with Pastor Wayne and Linda. Heath took this very seriously and began his memorization. When he was ready, I began to follow along in the Bible to see how he was doing, prompting when necessary. I think I was more of a distraction than help, but teamwork, right?!

In our service on Sunday, there were only two people who put their name in the hat. Wayne asked for spouses to go up to the front as well. I was so proud of Heath not only for getting up in front of the whole church to talk, but to memorize all those verses! I am so proud of you honey! I love you!

2 Corinthians 5:15-20 NIV

"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."

Thursday night was our "Date Night." Not knowing what to expect, we were all totally amazed at how wonderful the band was. Wayne had purchased tickets for a This Hope concert at Calvary Memorial Church in Gering. This group is originally from Alaska and they currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia with their families. They had beautiful voices, harmony, and a wonderful presentation including a testimony and stories from their growing up days back in Alaska.

Here is a great song from This Hope based off of Romans 8:

After the concert, Wayne and Linda took us to Culver's to split some ice cream with our spouses! What a great evening of fellowship! Thank you!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Wow, today on my bike ride, I was totally, completely convicted! I will let you know right up front that struggle with trying to do too many things in one day. I have some false assumption that I am superwoman or have some other heroic super powers. This stems from my perfectionism and drive. I will sit down and write out everything that I want to get done and then write down a schedule, the basic order things should happen. The problem is I do not follow the plan. I try to do too many of the things on the list at the same time or reprioritize them just to "get through them faster." I will tell you what, it does not help and it creates alot of anxiety for me.

Today, was one of those days. I had a pretty normal list, for me, of things to do before work at 10 am. Each day, the first part of my day, from 5:30 am - 6:30 am, is set aside for breakfast with my God. When I do this first thing in the morning, I have an unsurpassable peace with me all day long. This is something I am truly working on establishing from my time of learning with Linda and our Bible study called, A Women After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. I have also talked it over with my counselor. I told her that I struggle with getting this done first thing because if I get up and do not go straight to my chair with my Bible, I will get utterly distracted. I will see that the laundry could be put in before I start to read so I could then put them in the dryer after I was finished reading or I could try to squeeze an 'important' email in or even a quick blog entry in order to 'have it done so I can focus on the Bible.' What really happens is while I am doing those other things, I am thinking the whole time, this is not what I should be doing right now. This is not my top priority and so the anxiety sets in. This is so wrong and I know it. Wrong or not, I struggle with it, big time! The first step in solving a problem is admitting it and committing myself to improve. I am human and I am fallible.

I have learned a ton from the book that Linda and I just finished. Over the past 9 months, we have been gleaning from it and putting into practice the suggestions. One of the greatest life game changers for me is this priority list.

PRIORITIES

#1 ~ God

#2 ~ Husband

#3 ~ Children

#4 ~ Home

#5 ~ Self

#6 ~Ministry

#7 ~ Others

A very simple list, just always put things in this order (no switching it around) and everything will be ok, right? Wrong! We all struggle trying to know when to do some thing that is good, better, or best when we run into a time pinch. This list will help in those times of need.

Anyway, back to my story of today. I got up earlier, at 5 am, so that I could try to 'squeeze in' another quick chapter of my Raising Up Boys book by Dr. James Dobson. In my head, I thought that I would have an extra half hour to read this book before I went to the book, my Bible. What ended up happening was that I got to reading and read into my time that I was supposed to be out in my chair. By this point, it was getting hot and I thought I needed to go for my bike ride first. "I would read my Bible when I got back." Yeah, right! Like I already said, if I do not do it first thing, it will not happen. A plain and simple truth.

So here is how it boils down. I know what my #1 priority is and I set aside the time, but yet I still deviate from the plan. I know that starting my day with breakfast with God (and our dogs and kitten) on our porch in our hand made adirondack chairs, watching the sun come up is the best thing ever. I also know that I am human and I will make mistakes. I am so fortunate that we have a loving and forgiving God. As long as I am willing to go before Him and admit my failures, ask for forgiveness, and work on doing better next time, He will hear me.